David bowef



M,- BOWEN, Administratrix.

FENCE POST. N0. 359,5 89. Patented Mar. 15, 1887.

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WITNESSES: N MW/Z BY W v ATTORNES,

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To all whom, it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT rricn.

DAVID BOWEN, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS MARY BOWEN ADMINISTRATRIX OF SAID DAVID BOWEN, DECEASED.

FENCE-I5OST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,589, dated March 15, 1887.

Application filed May 24, 1886. Serial No. 203,124. (No model.)

Be it known that I, DAVID BOWEN, of Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Metallic Fence-Post, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to fences, and particularly to fence-posts, and has for its principal object to provide a simple inexpensive metallicfence-post formedi-n two partsa foot-piece to be driven into the ground, and a top or body portion to be held to the foot-piece and adapted to support the fence wires or rails.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the fence-post and its'connection with the fence-wires, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is afront view of my improved fencepost, showing the fencewires attached thereto. Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof with the wires in cross-section. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View taken on' the line 00 00, Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the cotter-pins used to hold the top and foot parts of the posts together and to attach the wires to the post.

The fencepost consists, mainly, of two parts-a top or body portion, A, and a footpiece or groundsocket, B. The body A is made of rolled metal, preferably steel, and in the cross-sectional form clearly shown in Fig.

, 3, or with a face-plate, a, and a strenghtening rib or flange, a, ranging along one side of the plate a. The foot-piece B is also made of steel, and is rolled or forged to the shape shown, or with a face-plate, I), about three inches broad, and astrengthening rib or flange, b, ranging along oneface of plate I), at its center, both plates 1) 22 being pointed at their lower ends to allow the foot-piece to be driven into the ground by strokes of a hammer or maul on the top of the foot-piece. The opposite edges of the upper end of the plate I) of the foot-piece B are turned over to provide angular lips or flanges O O, which, together with the central part of the top of plate 7), form asocket,in which the plate a of the post-body A fits. A stop is providedsuch as a stud or bolt, D, fixed in the plate 12' of the foot-pieceto prevent the post-body A from slipping down too far, and

a pin, abolt, or a rivet, or it may be a cotter I like the one, E, (shown in Fig. 4,) which is passed through the post-body and foot-piece, prevents alifting of the body from the footpiece; hence the post-body will be securely held at'the required height to properly support the superstructure of the fence.

I show the fence made with wires F, which are supported in the eyes 6 of cotter-pins E. These cotters are passed through holes in the face-plate a of the post-body, and their eX- 6 5 tremities are bent over opposite ways upon the back of the plate a, as clearly shown at e in Fig. 2, and whereby the fence-wires are se curely held to the post. The cotter-pins which hold the successively lower wires to the post are passed through holes in the post-plate a alternately at opposite sides of the rib a of the plate, as shown in Fig. 1.

In erecting a fence of this character the post foot-pieces B, which are about two feet long, will be driven into the ground. The body parts A then will be slipped into the sockets at the tops of the foot-pieces and fastened by the keys E. The wires F then will be stretched along the posts, and the cotters E will be slipped on the wires and passed through the holes in the post-body plates a, and then will be turned over or clinched upon the backs of these plates, and the fence is complete.

The fence-post bodies A may be as long as required to accommodate any number of fencewires F, or wooden rails, necessary in a fence of any predetermined height.

The shape of the foot-pieces B gives them a very firm hold in the ground, and conseo quently the fence will have substantial support against any strains to which it may ordinarily be subjected.

Having thus described my invention, what I claimas new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As an improved article of manufacture, a fence-post consisting of the upper section, A,

having a rib, a, and the lower section, 13 formed of a flat face-plate, Z2, pointed at its scribed. lower end, having a flange, b, and having the l T socket-forming flanges at its upper end re- DAVID BOWLL' 5 ceiving the lower end of the nppersection, the Witnesses:

stop D, on which the lower end of the upper D. U. BURDGE, section rests, and the removable pin E, secnr- A. G. SMITH.

, ing said sections together, as shown and de' 4 

